Peterborough’s Mel Allen, who was editor-in-chief of Dublin-based Yankee magazine for 30 years and a writer for the publication for 48 years, has released a new book of the best of his writing for Yankee.
Allen will host readings and sign copies of “Here in New England” on Saturday, Sept. 13, at 4 p.m. at Bass Hall in Peterborough. Other local readings are Thursday, Oct. 2, at 7 p.m. at the Harris Center for Conservation Education in Hancock and Tuesday, Oct. 7, at 7 p.m. at the Peterborough Town Library.
Allen say as he was reviewing nearly five decades of his favorite stories, the book, “Here in New England: Unforgettable stories of people, places, and memories that connect us all,” began to take on a life of its own.
“There is a common theme that developed when I was creating the book. It took me a while to see it, but then the pattern began to emerge…These are stories about people who refused to buckle,” Allen said. “These stories are not the New England of postcards; it’s not the New England of marketing departments. I do have a story about a lighthouse in the book, and I do have a story about foliage—but for the most part, these stories are about people in New England who have lived remarkable lives, but for most of them, never in the limelight.”
The book does include stories about several famous New Englanders such as Stephen King, Scott and Helen Nearing and Doug Flutie, but most chapters are about regular people facing hardship, from losing their jobs when the paper mill shut down to overcoming tragedy.
“I think this book, and these type of stories, are something that is needed right now, at a time when there is so much rhetoric that is hateful and angry. There is not one angry word in this book,” Allen said. “It is stories about people being empathetic to other people. I didn’t do it consciously; that is just where I’ve gone as a writer.”
The concept for “Here in New England” came out of several lectures Allen gave last fall, in which he looked back on his career as a writer. In August 2024, Allen gave a talk and presentation to writing students in the Bay Path MFA program at Endicott College.
“I gave this talk called ‘The Joy of Writing About Others.’ I gave a Power Point presentation with images from a whole bunch of stories I had written, and the response to that talk was really strong. Several people came up to me and said, ‘This should really be a book,’ ” Allen said.
One of Allen’s former students, Erin Gottwald, also attended the lecture at Endicott.
“Erin came up to me and said, ‘I need to take a publishing course to finish my degree, and for that course, I want to help you make this into a book,’” Allen said. “So maybe that’s when I first started to think about it.”
In November, Allen spoke at Jaffrey Civic Center’s “Stories to Share” series.
“It wasn’t the same exact same talk I gave at Endicott, but the same thing happened—all these people came up to me and told me I should make my stories into a book,” Allen said.
According to Allen, his talk at “Stories to Share” talk ended up being “the biggest catalyst for the book.” The audience that night included Steve Lewers, a friend of Allen’s and the founder of the Earth Sky & Water publishing company in Wilton.
Lewers, seeing the response of the audience at the Jaffrey Civic center, told Allen: “These stories are really food, and they should be a in a book.”
Allen’s last day at Yankee was January 16, and he met with Lewers just a few days later to talk about a possible book project.
“We got together the same week I retired, and we hammered out how we would do this. Yankee’s 90th anniversary is the September/October 2025 issue; it started in September 1935. So I said to Steve, wouldn’t it be great if this book could come out in time for Yankee’s 90th anniversary?” Allen said.
Allen got back in touch with Gottwald, who went through 30 years of Allen’s stories, digitized them, and turned them into Word documents so Allen could read and edit them online.
“Erin did that for no pay; she just did it because she believed in the book,” Allen said. “She was one of my first readers; she was a like a sounding board. I sent her four stories on the North Woods of Maine and said, ‘Which one would you choose?’ And she picked ‘An Allegash Love Story.” She also wanted me to include ‘The Seasons of Ice,’ which I wasn’t going to include initially, but Erin loved, so I did. ”
Yankee magazine’s longtime managing editor, Jenn Johnson, referred Allen to her cousin, Alice Erickson, who became another reader, giving her own suggestions for which articles should go in the book.
“It was this amazing collaboration with these wonderful people,” Allen said. “It’s kind of like it was self-published, because I chose the stories, I chose the title of the book, I chose the cover; which authors don’t usually do. But it was Steve (Lewers) who put up all the money and published it and made it happen. ”
Allen is also grateful to Yankee Publishing for “graciously giving me the rights to the stories.”
“We did this whole things in about six months. People always ask me, how is retirement going? And I’m actually working longer days than I was at Yankee, and I’m more focused. At Yankee, in the office, we have meetings, we have phone calls, we have emails coming in all day, you have people coming into your office to talk to you. Now, I walk into the library at 10:00 a.m., and I work on this all day long,” he said.
Last winter, Allen even worked all the way through a Western ski vacation with his two sons to stay on deadline.
“I went and worked at the Whistler Blackcomb Village Library—I was there as soon as it opened, all day, every day, while my boys skied—I didn’t go on the snow for one minute. I went through all of my old stories–thanks to Erin– and I created chapters for the book,” Allen said.
The cover photo of the book, “Sea Smoke,” was donated by photographer Peter Ralston.
“I had profiled Peter 20 years ago, and we got to know one another. I went through his portfolio, and I just loved this photograph. With a book about New England, you might expect a lighthouse, but this is not a typical lighthouse photograph; it’s a lighthouse engulfed in what they call ‘sea smoke.’ This photo represents the stories in this book—it’s a different view of New England. It’s not what you might expect.”
After “Here in New England” was featured on NPR, in an interview that was aired on over 400 stations nationwide, Allen heard from people all around the country, including some of whom had personal connections to his stories.
“That was the best, the most amazing thing,” he said. “One woman reached out because I had written about the disappearance of her little brother, Kurt Newton. I had tried to contact her before, to let her know the book would be coming out, but had never heard back. But then she wrote to me, and she thanked me for keeping her brother’s name alive; for telling her family’s story.”
Allen said his only regret is that he couldn’t fit every one of his favorite stories in the book.
“I’m starting to think about a volume two,” he said.
Allen’s book is available through bookstores and online from Earth Sky Water Publishing at foldingguides.com/product/here-in-new-england/.
For more information, go to melallennewengland.com